Document text
--> --> UO student, alum reported injured in Italy PORTLAND (AP) - Two Oregonians were hospitalized in Genoa, Italy, today after they were injured in a police raid on anti-globalization protesters sleeping in a school gymnasium, according to one protester's mother. Susan Hager, of Portland, said a U.S. Consulate official in Milan informed her that her daughter, 20-year-old Morgan Hager, and a friend, 23-year-old Sherman Sparks were hospitalized and would face unspecified criminal charges. Doctor Giovanna Cianchi at the San Martino Hospital in Genoa confirmed to The Associated Press early today that two young Americans were brought there Sunday night. Cianchi said the two people were the last protesters brought to the hospital and were not seriously injured. She could release the patients' names because they are under arrest, she said. Morgan Hager is a University of Oregon student and Sparks is a recent graduate, Hager said. Sparks' mother, Kathleen Sparks of Salem, said she had no information that her son had been arrested or hospitalized. Almost 180 people, including at least three U.S. citizens, were arrested in police sweeps that continued into the early hours of Sunday. In nearly two years of such clashes on the sidelines of world gatherings, these were by far the most intense, and the first to result in a fatality - a 23-year-old marcher shot dead by paramilitary police during Friday's fighting. Protest organizers said that the police stormed their headquarters and a nearby school where dozens of nonviolent demonstrators were camped out, and that they trashed equipment and beat unarmed activists. The U.S. Consulate in Rome said an American official had been in touch with some of the U.S. citizens who had been arrested or injured, but neither police nor the consulate would identify them. "It's a pretty ugly situation," said Susan Hager. She said her daughter left Portland on June 25 and was visiting friends and traveling in Europe before going to a summer school program in drawing and painting that begins next weekend in Siena. Morgan Hager graduated from St. Mary's Academy in 1999 and this fall plans to begin her junior year in the University of Oregon's Honors College, Susan Hager said. "She is interested in political issues but is not an anarchist or militant," she said. Kathleen Sparks said her son had graduated from the University of Oregon in December and was living in Berlin. She said that her son attended the anti-World Trade Organization demonstration in Seattle two years ago but that she didn't know about the situation in Genoa. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing